RSSBotox for Christmas
December 7, 2008
More women I know want this than anything else. Would they really do it? Or are there still too many unknowns… like how do you know a good doctor when you see one, where do they inject exactly, and is it REALLY safe? A thousand questions. Now you can find answers.
Photo by EverJean
In Gift Ideas For The Real World 4 (items 9&10), I told you about this fantastic website called Skin Tour. How excellent to have found an authority site on anti-aging treatments for skin that we can count on.
To tell the truth
Skin Tour is the website of Seattle dermatologist, Dr. Brandith Irwin. It is dedicated to providing consumers with the facts about anti-aging skin products that work, be they cream or injection. I’m always looking for that. This field is desperate for some reality.
We need voices that will plough through all the rubbish and gimmicks and tell us what’s true. Skin Tour is full of informative articles that whittle the topic down to what you need to know. Specific products are shown but the anti-aging focus is more about cosmetic and enhancing procedures like Botox, peels, fillers, and the various types of lasers.
Under Resources >> Menopause and Your Skin, there is the most clear, concise article on what the options are for improving the skin – and there are loads of options !!. Love the comment about the greater confidence and self-acceptance that we finally have found. Yes, we have.
A learning site
I have an impression that the opinion of dermatologists is that every one of us (with normally aging skin) should be using RetinA or Renova afer age 35 or so. I’m not certain if that’s correct but Dr. Irwin seems to support the belief. I haven’t cared enough yet to see a Derm to get some. I was thrilled (not too strong a word) to find Skin Medica Retinol Complex.
Terrific products are recommended, many that I’d never seen before. There are moisturizers, sunscreens (look at them when you go to the site; most interesting), antioxidants, both costly and affordable options. Look at the very neat Booster Packs while you’re there. Cute gifts, matched to a person’s activities.
Video treatments
Dr. Irwin has totally demystifyied Botox/Restlylane injections for me. I get this now. Watch the video blogs. See the questions that were asked, how comfortably the doctor could adapt to the face of each woman to produce a natural look, and how relaxed the patients are. What I can see for sure is that you need someone who can handle a needle.
After all, a needle is a knife. This is far and away my biggest fear. How do you know how smooth a doctor will be as an injector? It takes huge left brain- knowledge and right brain- artistry to be that proficient at using a needle and syringe. It’s really a form of surgery. Conservative taste and a great eye for the end result as part of the entire face go a long way too. These procedures are as much art form as science.
If you’ve been thinking of finding a dermatologist but aren’t sure what to look for in technique or bedside manner, this woman sets a high standard.
Recovery
I wish there were more After pictures on the site. I know exactly what the before issues are. I see them in the mirror every day. What I’d love to understand is what it looks like after. My inkling about Botox is the wooden look. Restylane? I haven’t a clue what that can do when it’s done well, though I can well imagine what done poorly looks like (lopsided and bumpy). It worries me greatly.
I also wish there were some idea given of how the recovery looks. Am I wrong or does Restylane appear to have serious bruising potential? I’m sure it’s covered in depth in the consultation and each woman is different, but I’d like to see the average reaction.
Note the AntiAging Tour
Definitely do take The AntiAging Tour. Scroll down and key in your areas of interest. Mouse over the dots that come up on the face and your options appear in a table on the screen. What smooth and effective use of the internet this is.
To teach and provide information consumers can depend on is the best of what this medium can do. The 13 year old sitting in front of me looking at street level satellite pictures of Paris and finding the pizza place nearest to the Eiffel Tower is illustrating the same thing in a whole different way.
You and I can’t tell what’s in a skin cream by the feel of it. We sure don’t know Restylane from Juvederm from the many new options flooding the market. The next 20 years will be crowded with this stuff, which I personally am quite pleased about.
Photo by Julianne.hide
Feel better
What impresses me most is the Doctor’s desire to just send something good out into the world. Though commission is made on the sale of products, it probably just pays for the site. The time and work seems to be a labor of love and a sincere desire to help people. Since every single molecule of good energy (and bad energy) you send out there boomerangs back to you, I would say there’s some good stuff coming her way.
So yeah. Pretty soon, the face on both sides of my nose will cave in enough and the lines will be so deep that I’ll be glad to have this option. I can almost imagine having these injections with no more worry than getting a hair color. In good hands, it looks like there’s little to fear, especially if you start with temporary treatments.
PS: The purchasing is redirected to Skin Care Rx. Let me tell you, they’re worth a look. Based in Utah, you’ll find an amazing list of hard-to-find brands. If you buy, do link to it from inside Skin Tour. We want to support that site. It’s going to help us a lot over the next 30 years.
I couldn’t link to Skin Care Rx directly or through Skin Tour. I don’t know if it’s a Mac thing because the 3 Windows XP IE7 systems I tried were fine. Oh, the stress! I finally had to place the order by phone. They have terrific tech support at Skin Care Rx and they helped me find a bypass way into the site with the Mac. Let me know if you have any issues.
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More women I know want this than anything else. Would they really do it? Or are there still too many unknowns… like how do you know a good doctor when you see one, where do they inject exactly, and is it REALLY safe? A thousand questions. Now you can find answers.
Read moreNew Reasons To Love My Computer
November 19, 2008
Lock the front door, oh boy. Online. AirPort : connected. Signal strength : perfect. Hello, whole world.
Back in the Archives, you’ll find 20 Reasons To Love My Computer.
Photo by Pixel Addict
I thought of 7 more :
1. The great new words in the jargon (hard-coded, firewall, FireWire, Skype (and the great tagline: Take A Deep Breath. ). It’s added a whole new vocabulary to our language (or is it, a whole new language to our vocabulary?.
2. I can’t eat and type at the same time (but I can drink).
3. There is so much free stuff. Here is a community of people dedicated to learning and growth and sharing and building something together, without knowing quite what is because it has never existed before.
4. Everyone is equal. You can’t see anyone. You can’t deposit your pre-conceived notions about tall/short/redheaded people into the game before the dialogue even begins.
5. Not everything needs to make sense, or happen for a reason, or happen the way you expect or think it will. The best events in life are often the erratic, unexplained ones.
6. It’s a magazine where the pages keep changing. It’s a cookbook today, a fashion mag tomorrow, and a travelogue the next day, all for a single subscription fee.
7. Some of my greatest friends live inside it.
Hey! The list is done! I can stop now because I found a book that says it all and more. Back in the article “So You’re A Shill For Paula, Right?”, I introduced it briefly. At the Cluetrain site, you can read the book, catch up with its 4 authors, or scroll down and read the 95 Theses that describe the real meaning of “market” and “business” today.
Weinberger at Joho the Blog
I’m always cut to the quick by David Weinberger’s writing and brainpower. I follow his writing at Joho the Blog. I will always try to stay out of politics and religion, since I don’t know enough to steer clear of tastes and colors but I do want to direct you to his piece after Mr. Obama’s election victory. Few people express big feelings and big concepts so well in writing.
I greatly respect the American people for having sent such a powerful message of their desire for unity an for their courage in putting so much of the past behind them. As David said, Mr. Obama’s election win is about so much more than just race. The citizens of the USA have the power to set an example on a global scale in the finest sense and they stepped up to the plate. They agreed to spend the next 4 years trying to focus on what makes them the same instead of different. As Spiderman’s Uncle Ben said, “with great power comes great responsibility”.
Having said that, Mr. Harper is the Canadian Prime Minister for many of the same reasons as Mr. Obama will be President. In most cases, 20 years of experience in a trade or profession is an asset. In politics, I’m not so sure that holds true. Which animal said that “Absolute power corrupts absolutely”? The people of both countries elected leaders without so much political baggage, in the faith and belief that things can be different and better. Hope is what matters most, because so many live without it.
The thrill of this election result was reinforced for me by the woman that Mr. Obama has standing beside him. The First Lady, with her inevitably huge influence on the President, has caused me either total neutrality or some trepidation, as far back as I can remember. Michelle Obama is as brave as her husband, with the same unwavering personal integrity. As a person of powerful intelligence and awareness and a high code of personal honor and dignity, Mrs. Obama is the first First Lady I can remember to evoke in me a sense of gigantic relief.
Book Review : the cluetrain manifesto : the end of business as usual.
Though written for marketers and business folks, the point is really to recognize the internet as a tool for collaboration on a planetary scale. Until we see ourselves as one and put aside our histories and our battles, we can’t hope to save this planet and the people on it.
Published in 2000, it might have received a “we shall see” reaction. It is in the business section of the bookstore but it far transcends business. It is about sharing ideas, stories and thoughts. It’s the story of how the internet became a place where real people speak to one another with real human speech, not reiterating paragraphs from flyers. Our natural voice is blemished, not perfect, but at least it’s real. We conflicted dwellers of this planet can tell when we hear each other speaking from our hearts.
The internet gave us a place to connect with one another and find out what we wanted to know in ways that businesses didn’t allow. Play, laughter, trust, individuality, all are antonyms of the word “business”. This is a story of how insulated, top-down, guarded corporations came to exist and how that stronghold is being dismantled.
Photo by altemark
In a style of writing I admire for being at once relaxed, cool, precise, sharp, and exciting, this book explores the meeting-after-the-meeting, where the real talk happens.
We all have our antennae up to detect incoming marketing BS. Marketers invade our privacy (see The Abuse of Permission Marketing) firing slogans and brochures at us more aggressively, so we fight back harder. We hang up on them, we block the senders, we change the channel, we close the window. They made it easy, even necessary, for us to be more rude than we’re comfortable with.
Do you send email? Do you hate your job and are not sure why? Is every word you say carefully policed by higher-ups? Do you have an opinion you can never express? If your conscience doesn’t feel so good after a day at the office, and you need insight as to why, read this book. If nothing else, read the definition of professionalism in the How To Hate Your Job section of Chapter 2. It’s fabulous.
Businesses can dream up whatever slogans and jingles they want. They’re not the best till their customers say it too. If one of your customers starts a website called www.yourbusinesssucksoutloud.com and 1000 people leave comments to that effect, well they’re not the misguided ones. You’re missing your own boat. It has sailed and you’re not on it. Priceless on page 88 is the meaning and value of PR and press releases.
Photo by leighblackall
Companies are not run by anyone with superior knowledge who is very busy and important. They’re just people like us. Those that get it are listening and they’re talking. They’re not reading brochures to us on the phone, they’re just talking. We love the hairstylist who will say “That won’t work for you”. We have less-than-zero faith in the cosmetician who tells us every product “looks fabulous with your coloring”.
What about those corporations that are ticking along in the old ways behind the old walls and doing just fine? The bigger and more established, the less affected they are by grass roots movements. The solid bureaucratic monoliths will have the most safeguards in place, be they banks, government, or the Department of Education. But they can’t pretend we don’t exist. They haven’t spoken English since anyone can remember, but we’re not listening like we used to. I don’t want to be told what someone thinks I should know, or need to know, or want to hear. Just tell me the honest truth.
Some fool may come along who tries to censor and control the internet. He might succeed. But we’ve tasted it now and we can rebuild it.
Every voice on Earth raised in free, irrepressible speech.
We have our heading.
-->I have a list 27 items long, and counting, for why I love my computer. I can stop now because I found a book that says it all and more, in the coolest, funniest, most conversational tone I’ve ever seen in print. Though written for marketers, the point is really to recognize the internet as a tool for collaboration on a planetary scale. Until we see ourselves as one and put aside our histories and our battles, we can’t hope to save this planet and the people on it.
Read moreSites To Know : Makeup Alley
October 2, 2008
Many of you are probably familiar with this huge resource. AGT’s Sites To Know list wouldn’t be complete without a mention of it.
If I’m buying any skin care or makeup product, there are 2 places I check first. They are Beautypedia at Paula’s Choice (PC) and Makeup Alley (MUA).
For skin care, Beautypedia gets 99% of the weight – see the article 4 Wrong Ways To Choose Skin Cream And 1 Way That Works. The composition takes precedence over almost any other factor and consumers cannot know, or evaluate, this information. Do you know you can get Beautypedia for 2 days for free?
For makeup, the 2 sites are weighted more evenly. Beautypedia is still ahead because Paula’s and Bryan’s reviews are just so dang good. The Search function is so well thought-out that it is a pleasure to use. Every color in the line being examined is evaluated, which make these reviews quite unique. You’re getting not only ingredient lists, but application, durability, and color selection on this site.
Makeup application is particular though. Everyone has different preferences. The consumer is much more able to appraise the product’s performance than with skin creams. The strength of MUA is the voice of so many end users.
Reviews range from 1 line to 1 page or more. These are regular women of all ages, not beauty editors who will drop $30 for a concealer. Everyone at MUA agrees that it B-L-O-W-S when you buy $30 mascara and hate it.
The products are rated on performance by the consumers that use them… the power of the internet, right? By all of us, for all of us. You can learn from a woman in Sweden or find a fellow Thierry Mugler Angel lover in Tokyo tonight, and chat with them for 4 hours for free. Awestruck just thinking about it.
MUA is also a great resource for application techniques, color selection tips (especially if buying products online), with many reviews about the specific colors themselves.
You’ll learn to scan both sites in seconds.
At PC, I select the product category I’m interested in, then Customize Search. There, I select only the reasonably priced Paula’s Picks, which show me the best of the best at a price point I am willing to get with.
At MUA, I start in Preferences along the left side margin, and choose “Show full list” rather than “ Auto Suggest”. That way, I can scan down all the brands without missing any. Back in the main page under Product Reviews, choose a category, and look down the brands and click on those of interest. When the list comes up, I look at the % in the Buy Again column. If it’s over 75%, I’ll take a closer look. When scanning the reviews for each product, I often select only reviews by women over 40 since they’re more representative of what I’m looking for and what my own opinion is likely to be.
Like Beautypedia, MUA is about a lot more than makeup. Hair products can be found here, as can nail polish, self-tanner, candles, men’s products, and body care . Even toothpaste is here – with raves about Crest Whitening Plus Scope and many of the natural (non-animal-tested ) products.
This is one of my favorite ways of finding a new fragrance : just as I described above, I go through the company list and find those with rave reviews. It goes on my Test List. So I clicked on Prada and found Infusion D’Iris.
You do need to register at both sites. PC will cost a little money but it’s big time worth it because you’ll get info you can’t find anywhere else and you will save a bundle. MUA is a free, fast, easy registration.
You will add to your list of U&P’s (user names and passwords) for both sites. Mine is 5 pages long, and this is for my convenience. I’d eat my hard drive (both of them!) if I ever lost that document. Listen, Apple, what better use for a webcam than retinal scan technology?
-->Many of you are probably familiar with this huge resource. AGT’s Sites To Know list wouldn’t be complete without a mention of it.
If I’m buying any skin care or makeup product, there are 2 places I check first. They are Beautypedia at Paula’s Choice (PC) and Makeup Alley (MUA).
Makeup Counter Navigation
September 25, 2008
Navigation means the process of finding your way around. Usability means making sure something works well.
Don’t Make Me Think!
I read a great book. It is Steve Krug’s Don’t Make Me Think, A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability. Steve is a guy who gets paid to figure out if websites are easy enough for anyone, or at least the intended client, to navigate and use. But the intended client is anyone.
Usability seems easy enough, and it’s mostly common sense. The problem is that common sense is not all that common. Add to that the conflicts between the designer, the CEO, and everyone in between, and it makes for tortuous websites.
Steve describes us to ourselves. People view the internet like roadside signs that go zooming past them. If we’re looking for something on a page, the line that has our attention is the only thing on the page we see. We are in a hurry. And we’re coldblooded. We’re looking for something specific, not reading a book. If the page we land on doesn’t have what we want, we click away, often back to the Google Search page.
The internet is like being in a huge mall blindfolded, getting walked around, and having the blindfold whipped off for 10 seconds every 10 minutes. The challenge is in trying to figure out where you are and where the good stuff is. You know it’s there but have no idea how to get to it. Make it convoluted and no one will use it.
Websites that don’t work
The example I keep running into is the Clarins site. Tiny fonts. Can’t tell what’s clickable. Sadly, not enough is clickable. It used to be impossible to find the colors an eyeliner was available in. Now I can get there sometimes, but the swatches are too small. Does the cosmetics industry try these out on real women?
L’Oreal is even more difficult. If you type www.loreal.com, you’ll get taken to a to entire L’Oreal arsenal. There’s this freakishly annoying flickering hand for a cursor (why? is it just my computer?) and the interface is forever loading something. If you’re really on the ball and type www.lorealparis.com, you’re redirected to www.lorealparisusa.com , and wait a long time for something to appear, if it ever does. The pages take a long time to load. Once you’re in, it’s ok, though there will be ads, but you really need a will to stay with it that long.
This is not easy for consumers. They’d even spray you with perfume if they could. It would be a multi-sensorial experience, like walking into a Hollister store, and just as hard to find what you want.
Universal principles
A makeup collection is no different. They sabotage themselves by making makeup counters so complicated that many women avoid them, just like so many websites. Could the marketing be intentional to confuse us and unload more product? Without knowing what they want and what suits them, many women would not venture near a makeup counter.
We walk past islands and islands of displays. They are all clamoring for our time and attention, just like so many neon signs on the highway. It’s intimidating and a little depressing.
In many cases, the easiest choice to make is none, even if there has been an attempt to organize the parade, like at Clinique and MAC. Nobody wants remote controls with 55 buttons. It is not an accident that Google’s main page is mostly white. They asked people what they wanted and they listened to what they were told. We love them all the more for it.
The collections in many Sephora stores might as well be in alphabetical order. If a company makes 5 kinds of lip gloss, the difference between each should be spelled out somewhere obvious (this would be you, MAC). Bobbi Brown, possibly the most real-life-friendly line out there from a color perspective (and if you ignore the prices), has 60 black lipstick cases all turned upside down and no corresponding color swatch anywhere. Now am I really going to turn over each one to find a color I like?
When the pink, orange, and neon lipsticks are all mixed together, the thought balloon over your head says “Who would wear this? Is this the one meant for me? Is it supposed to go with something else? Why didn’t they put the Out There stuff out there?”
What Women Want
Women don’t need 40 lipsticks. We hate that we have that many because 30 of them at least represent mistakes or impulsive purchases. We’d trade them all for 3 that we know look great. We don’t have time (nor confidence, quite often) for eye makeup designs involving 4 different colors, regardless of how well they go together.
What we want are 3 (give or take) colors in each of the blush, eyeshadow, and lip color categories that we know look great on us. These would be the shades made for our coloring that we would reach for every day.
You could walk up to a display, quickly find what’s appropriate for your coloring (or get assistance in doing so), and trust that you would never, ever look silly. The colors would suit you, look true and believable on your face, and would be coordinated to belong in the same color families. Shopping really would be a breeze.
Like well-designed website navigation, you should not have to break a sweat to see where you are and where you want to go. That thinking should be done for you. I maintain that it’s not that hard.
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The internet is like being in a huge mall blindfolded, getting walked around, and having the blindfold whipped off for 10 seconds every 10 minutes. The challenge is in trying to figure out where you are and where the good stuff is. You know it’s there but have no idea how to get to it. Make it convoluted and no one will use it.
A makeup collection is no different.
Book Review : Tom Robbins Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates (2000)
September 21, 2008
In my 20’s, I thought Tom Robbins was the man of my dreams. Eventually, I drifted away. I tried to read Jitterbug Perfume but couldn’t get involved. I felt like I had outgrown the excellent but fantasy-like freedom of his thought process.
That was back when I thought growing up was important. I was trying to be in control, a theme not in keeping with Robbins’ writing. I didn’t have the patience to read a story told by a stick and a can of beans. I just didn’t get it, but the limitation resided only within me.
Growing up is overrated
Since I now resist growing up, and am not only allowing, but squeezing all the random energy I can out of life, I’m finding him again. 25 years later, I’m just beginning to get what he got all along and re-reading all his books.
Does anyone remember his picture from the older books? Now who couldn’t drink wine with that for a week? Cuteness incarnate. Still easy on the eyes (yes, ok, I know it doesn’t matter, but it’s a strong memory, so I’m going with it),
Tom Robbins from HistoryLink
Out of pure loyalty to what could have been, and because I needed a travel book, I picked up Fierce Invalids. He’s only gotten better with time. (We all have, right? My point, exactly).
His writing still sends electricity down my arms when we connect over the right words. He tells a great story. Buried in the silliness, almost Monty Pythonesque at times, are reflections on human frailty and love, living with our imperfections and the meaning of a perfect existence.
Discover possibility
Try rocking your own boat. Shift the ground under your feet, poke a stick at your fire and see what sparks up. What you don’t know may be way more interesting than what you already know. Possibility is more fun than reality. In fact, realism limits possibility and should be done away with. With Tom Robbins, you don’t have to worry about too much realism. It’s the effervescence some might feel goes overboard, but I would disagree. The sparkle is what it’s all for.
He writes of suspending one’s beliefs. True to his inclinations, his clarity is found through meditation, with/without chemical assistance. Meditation and chemical assistance don’t get me there, though chocolate gives me a glimmer. Still, though never one to shy away from shoving one’s beliefs into free fall, I’ll have to reach my destiny in the earthbound, knuckle-dragging way.
The point is important though. It’s our own thought menu that’s the problem. The rhymes of our own lives get stuck in our heads. We need a way to climb out of the grooves we’re so entrenched in. Once the static is quieted and our definitions of so-called reality get peeled back, there opens a void into which new possibilities can live.
Laughter and Shattered Sensibilities
One of his characters is learning about laughter. I’ve never contemplated laughter before as a behavior. Improbably, considering that the subject is the internet (but not improbably at all, since its deeper thesis is freedom), my other life-changing book of the summer, The Cluetrain Manifesto weighs up the meaning of laughter too. It’s an odd behavior when you think about it. I could imagine an animal crying before I could see it laughing.
Some may find offense. If you’re thin-skinned on the topics of sex, government, or religion, these books might not be for you. If you’re looking for safe social commentary or linear plots, head back to the bookshelf.
Still the man of my dreams. He, and maybe the guy on the Josh Groban poster on my wall, which proves I’ve grown up too.
Great links
There’s a very complete life story here at HistoryLink.
january magazine posts an in-depth interview with Robbins about his writing process here.
At wikiquote, the more memorable passages and quotations from his books. I read a few almost daily, especially when I find myself going and getting all serious, important, and tiresome. Freedom (if that’s too much, let’s go with leniency or tolerance) and hedonism (sub pleasure if desired) can surely make the light shine brighter than dry, dusty austerity.
A YouTube interview where Robbins discusses the teachings of OSHO the Indian Mystic. (Uploaded by OSHO International).
Have I mentioned the man-of-my-dreams thing too often ? Nah.
-->In my 20’s, I thought Tom Robbins was the man of my dreams. Eventually, I drifted away. That was back when I thought growing up was important. I was trying to be in control, a theme not in keeping with Robbins’ writing. Since I now resist growing up, and am not only allowing, but squeezing all the random energy I can out of life, I’m finding him again.
Read more“So, You’re A Shill For Paula, Right?”
September 2, 2008
That was the title of a recent email. There was no text, but I think the title said it all. Excellent. I’ve been wondering when someone would ask.
What will I shill?
First, I had to look up the meaning of the word “shill”. The dictionary in my computer tells me that a shill is “an accomplice of a hawker, gambler, or swindler who acts as an enthusiastic customer to entice or encourage others”. The usage in everyday language is more relaxed, but still implies two agents working in concert to promote sales.
I’m not really a shill for products, any more than any woman who shares information that might be of help to other women in her community. Women have individual and particular tastes about products and that’s just fine.
Ideas
If I’m a shill for anything, it would be for ideas, though more as a proponent than for mutual financial benefit. An example is the idea that women belong to certain color groups, or seasons if you follow the outlines in Carole Jackson’s great book, Color Me Beautiful book. I am absolutely a believer.
[Edit April 22/09: A week ago, I finally became a color analyst myself. While I think Ms. Jackson's book is deserving of the popularity it achieved in the 1980's, the color analysis world has gotten much bigger for me. It now encompasses several different systems, each with its particular strengths.]
The Human Cooperative
I’ll also elbow my way to the head of the line for “Shills of the TED Conference” (TED home page here). The list of all the themes covered by speakers at TED are here, at the Themes A-Z. Whenever human beings leave behind all their hangups in the spirit of sharing, cooperation, and building something together, I want to be there. Watch Dan Gilbert tell us about happiness:
The internet
The internet itself is what I am the biggest shill for. It has brought us freedom of speech, idea, and expression. For all of us, by all of us, the ultimate democracy. It brings us the sublime creativity of our fellow human beings. Listen. It brings us this:
That video was uploaded to YouTube by Sethtann.
Now there’s a song of praise for you. A brotherhood of man. Amen.
Feeling a little tingle?
Where could it take us from here?
Do you know the book, The Cluetrain Manifesto (TCM) ? If that book is not my religion, then it is at least my anthem. I will write a review of it one day. You can read it online for free here . It is about the wonder and importance of the internet. The last paragraph sums up all that I am about, my reason for being. It lights up my life. On the home page, scroll on down to the 95 Theses. You’ll get the idea.
I proudly take my position as a shill for TCM. If you run a business, if you want to share an idea, if you spend any time on the internet even just browsing, if you want to sell something or buy something, if you have a human voice, read this book. Human conversation has been suppressed for too long by jargon-bleating, party-line-towing corporate robotics. Nobody’s listening anymore. They might as well be talking Klingon. We’re all talking to one another instead. I’ll be a shill for that community any day. It’s where I’d love AGT to go.
But why PC?
Because they understand, whether by accident or intention I’m not certain, what is written in that most excellent book. And although I recognize they’re not in it to lose money, I also believe that fundamentally, they sincerely want to empower women.
I don’t get paid by Paula’s Choice. They did agree to work with me because I want to learn how the internet works. Paula’s Choice doesn’t control what I say and never try to. They don’t suggest topics or coordinate their activity with mine. Because I also want to understand how money moves on the internet, Paula’s Choice agreed to help set up an affiliate program where I receive 8% of sales that link to Paula’s Choice (PC) through A Greener Tea (AGT).
I’m not sure how much I have so far, maybe $35 or so. It doesn’t matter. I just want to know how the links are set up, how the counters work, and what this language sounds like. They’ve been very patient despite my blunders and haven’t laughed when I tried to speak this new language.
So, why not Apple or Title Nine? They also make a product I like and they talk to us like we’re real. It’s because I’m really into skin care, you see. PC is a small, affable, flexible, and accessible group of people who talk to you in a real human voice. They have a position - you never wonder what they’re about. They behave with rare and refreshing transparency at every level. They are closer to TCM than any other corporation I know. A woman at the helm only enhances the image, but that’s just me.
Sure, there are many businesses like this. I just haven’t got round to inviting them to the picnic yet.
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That was the title of a recent email. First, I had to look up the meaning of the word “shill”. The dictionary in my computer tells me that a shill is “an accomplice of a hawker, gambler, or swindler who acts as an enthusiastic customer to entice or encourage others”. The usage in everyday language is more relaxed, but still implies two agents working in concert to promote sales.
Read moreHOW TO ADD YOUR PICTURE TO YOUR ONLINE COMMENTS
May 17, 2008
The 80 million or more blogs in existence provide the framework for a worldwide conversation. The interaction is so much richer and more people-oriented, rather than machine-oriented, if a face goes with the words.
Read moreMAGAZINE WOMEN ARE PRETEND
May 15, 2008
I was emailed this photo. It got me thinking about what computers can do.
Read moreTHE BEAUTY AND POWER OF HDR PHOTOGRAPHS
April 8, 2008
I am endlessly awed, humbled, and inspired by human creativity. You can say any amount of bad about the species, and much of it would be true, but there is imagination and vision within each one of us that is stunning to behold.
Meet Xavier
I have realized that I notice very much how things look. A bit less, how they smell. Hardly at all how they sound. Not how they feel. How they taste? I don’t care enough, or else I’ve just replaced that care with a stronger concern about overall nutrition.
DISCLOSURE AND BEAUTY BLOGS
February 18, 2008
On January 31, 2008, the NYT published an article entitled Skin Deep, about beauty blogs and the women who write them. Only 2 years ago, the cosmetics industry treated them as an annoyance. Blogs about beauty are now seen as influential and reach a wide audience.
Who do you trust?
Gradually over the past ten years, the marketplace (consumers, us) has transferred its trust away from conventional advertising. We have come to resent being marketed at and manipulated with sales pressure and enticements. We put our faith in experts, or the people around us whose experience seems similar to our own.
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A Greener Tea
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